


We Could Have Been

by icandrawamoth



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: 5 Things, 5 Times, Bittersweet, Bittersweet Ending, Canon Compliant, F/M, Falling In Love, Feelings, Love, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-14
Packaged: 2018-09-17 09:19:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9315182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icandrawamoth/pseuds/icandrawamoth
Summary: It doesn't happen the first time he meets her. Maybe on Jedha or Eadu. Maybe later. In the end, it doesn't matter.(Or, five times Cassian fell in love with Jyn.)





	

i.

It doesn't happen the first time he meets her, a fierce, ragged woman in the middle of the Alliance war room, facing down interrogations and demands from a circle of generals and intelligence agents. He admires her fortitude, her refusal to cower or give up anything easily, though her insistence that fighting evil is a privilege, a choice, makes him burn.

ii.

Maybe it starts with the way they fight together so seamlessly on Jedha. If there are stars in his eyes as he watches her take down those stormtroopers singlehandedly with her baton, who's there to see? It's just respect for her fighting skills, he would say if asked. Any being who can defend themselves like that deserves such a look.

iii.

Or perhaps it's when he pulls her away from her father's body on Scarif. It feels like the first time he has seen her show genuine emotion, a grief that floors him, the sudden bone-deep realization that she doesn't only care for herself. He's seen this before, experienced it in others and himself, but that doesn't make it easier. Once on the ship, their heated argument, and as he stalks away, he's still thinking of her face on the landing pad, tears mingling with the rain.

iv.

Jyn speaks passionately for the Alliance to go to Scarif, and Cassian watches in awe. He's witnessed her transformation from being one against the world to a warrior determined to save the galaxy because she knows it's the right thing to do. He already knows, even before Mon Mothma denies them permission, that he'll disobey orders again for this mission, for her. _Now_ , his heart whispers, but there isn't time.

v.

Almost before he knows it, they're huddled together on Scarif's beach, beaten and bruised but triumphant, and Cassian _knows_. Looking into Jyn's eyes, calm and accepting in the face of death, unafraid just like the first time he saw her, he knows, and for half a moment he allows himself to imagine the life they might have had. He may not know exactly when he fell in love with Jyn Erso, but now it doesn't matter. Their time has run out. He wraps his arms around her, feels hers in return, and together they wait for the end.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I seem to have this weird thing where I have certain pairings I don't really ship myself, but I end up writing a fic for them anyway? I don't even know; I hope you guys like this.


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